Real Opinions from Real Gamers, Est 29th Jan ’09

Well it’s finally here, the one piece of Fallout DLC people have been waiting for. This new slice of content promises so much to Fallout fans. New enemies, new weapons, a raised level cap along with more missions and a re-written ending to the game. So is this new DLC worth your attention and more importantly your hard earned cash, well read on and I will attempt to answer at least one of those questions.

READ ON AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AS THE REST OF THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS!!

Still here?? Read on…….

We’ll start strangely enough at the end, well at least what used to be the end of Fallout. What used to be a total dead end much to gamers disgust with no option (apart from returning to a previous save) of getting back out into the wasteland and tying up some loose ends. Whichever way you finished the game, good or bad or whether or not you sacrificed yourself to start up project purity you’ll awaken two weeks later after having been in a coma in the Citadel. There waiting for you is Elder Lyons who needs your help to clean up the wasteland of the remnant Enclave forces. So begins your new adventure which boils down to about four main mission quests and a couple of side missions. That doesn’t mean you have to crack on with the job in hand straight away, you can venture back out into the Capitol Wasteland with a few differences.

If you are going to reach the new level 30 cap you are going to need to get out there and get as much XP as you can get. People who I have talked to have said that after the end of Broken Steel they had maxed out at around level 25. To help counter this somewhat Bethesda has introduced some new high level bad guys. Some of these you’ll encounter in the Broken Steel missions but some you’ll run into while you’re out and about.

Lets start with the Super Mutant Overlords which are slightly more ugly than your common or garden Super Mutant but a lot tougher. These Overlords are often outfitted with one of the new weapons introduced with the DLC, the Tri-Laser rifle. This is a nasty bit of kit to be on the wrong end of and can deplete your health at an alarming rate.
Another new enemy which took me totally by surprise to my cost is the Ghoul Reaver. It looks pretty much like any other Feral Ghoul but with a slight glow to it, but do not underestimate it, again the speed at which it can take you down is alarming and can also throw radioactive goo at you hand grenade style.
Albino Radscorpians now populate some areas of the waste and didn’t seem too much of a problem apart from the fact they regenerate their health if you don’t keep chipping away.
Lastly are the Enclave Hellfire Troopers who carry the new Heavy Incinerator, a flamer that fires flaming balls of death from miles away obscuring your vision and making your life a lot tougher.

Missions are your usual Fallout, go there do that, fare. That’s not to say these are lazy add ons, you’ll be traversing some interesting and varied terrain. Some stand out moments for me was the Old Olney power plant. Making your way through this level is great with some wonderful imagery, working your way through some partially collapsed and leaning offices to a working power reactor spitting out large arcs of electricity was a highlight for me. Also the Presidential Metro complete with a working train felt different to what you are used to being largely unaffected by the bombs that have dropped outside. The last mission takes you right away from the Capitol Wasteland altogether to Anders Airforce Base for a final showdown with the Enclave.

The only real problem I had with the DLC was with the new level cap. By the end of the game I had easily reached level 30 thanks in large part to upping the difficulty to very hard. When you’ve finished the new missions and are encouraged to get back out to the wastes for some smaller side quests you find yourself not really caring any more. A big part of what I enjoyed was working towards getting that new perk you wanted, and although it’s great to put the level cap up I really don’t see why Bethesda couldn’t have removed it altogether.
It won’t take too long for any Fallout veteran to get through Broken Steel but it is sure fun doing it. There are many small touches I’ve not talked about in this review as I believe some things are better found out while playing. If you have been holding off on buying any of the extra content I would strongly suggest starting with the Broken Steel expansion and at 800 MSP I think it is good value for money.